Taban-allied lawmaker says current parliament is ‘legal’

JUBA – A South Sudan lawmaker allied to the country’s Vice-president Taban Deng Gai has said the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) formed in 2016 as part of a 2015 peace agreement is still legal and still have the legislative powers to function before its revitalization to include opposition lawmakers.

This comes after several members of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGONU) declined to appear before the TNLA following summon by the lawmakers. Last year, defense minister Angelina Teny refused to appear before lawmakers saying they don’t have legitimacy given the parliament has not been revitalized as part of a 2018 revitalized version of the 2015 peace agreement.

Last week, information minister Michael Makuei Lueth also declined to appear before the parliament also saying the lawmaking institution does not have any legal recognition since the peace deal has provided for its dissolution pending reconstitution.

However, MP Bor Gatwech Kuany, a member of the TNLA loyal to (former first vice president) vice president Taban Deng Gai says the revitalized peace agreement does not provide for the dissolution of the parliament, but for its extension arguing that because the current parliament is part of the upcoming parliament, it has legal recognition to exercise legislative activities.

“Article 1.14.2 stipulated that the TNLA shall be expanded to 550 members and then reconstituted according to power sharing ratios. There are three words that we need to consider in this article. First, the acronym TNLA is not connected with the word revitalized. Second, the agreement provides for only two things to happen with the current parliament (TNLA): expansion from 400 to 550 members and reconstitution.

“This means that, the current parliament doesn’t disappear. It get expanded and formed again. So whatever we have now at the moment, the law consider it as part of the next parliament according to this provision. 400 members of a parliament of 550 members can still take binding decisions, it is more than 2/3 majority. I therefore argue that the current parliament is legal and can therefore continue to function pending its expansion and reconstitution because the agreement doesn’t dissolve it entirely.”

He further accused unnamed members of President Salva Kiir’s cabinet of defiant to respect the legislature.

“The TNLA and CS [Council of States] that were reconstituted by the first agreement of 2015 remains in place. But some members of the executive that was rightly revitalized and came to existence without being vetted or approved by parliament remains selectively defiant to observe the authority of the current parliament alleging that it is illegal,” he said.